The Landau

 
There was a landau deep and wide,
    Cushioned for Sleep’s own self to sit on—
The glory of the country-side
    From Tanner’s End to Marlow Ditton.
John of the broad and brandied cheek
    (Well I recall its eau-de-vie hues! )
Drove staid Sir Ralph five days a week
    At speeds which we considered Jehu’s. . .

But now poor John sleeps very sound,
    And neither hears nor smells the fuss
Of the young Squire’s nine-hundred-pound—
    Er—Mors communis omnibus.
And I who in my daily stroll
    Observe the reckless chauffeur crowd her,
Laudator temporis, extol
    The times before the Act allowed her.
 

Choose another poem